Colorado PGA REACH Salutes Veteran with New Home

By Kim McHugh

More than 100 amateurs and PGA Professionals teed up at Colorado Golf Club in Parker on June 26 to play in the largest fundraising event of the year for the 501 (c) 3 foundation of the Colorado PGA—the Colorado PGA REACH Invitational.

PGA REACH supports programs aligned with the organization’s three key pillars: Youth Development, Diversity and Inclusion, and Military Personnel Support.

Monday’s tournament focused specifically on the third pillar.

In a ceremony staged before the tournament began, four soldiers from the Fort Carson Mounted Color Guard rode in wearing 1874-patterned 10^th Cavalry Regiment uniforms and carrying the United States and Colorado flags.

Colorado PGA Executive Director Eddie Ainsworth and Ken Eakes, the Executive Director for the San Antonio, Texas-based Military Warriors Support Foundation, acknowledged the service of former U.S. Army Sergeant Chris Hardesty, whom they presented with the keys to a move-in ready, mortgage-free, three-bedroom home in Pueblo, where he’ll live with his fiancée and stepdaughter.

“Getting this home is tremendous. My fiancée and I don’t ever have to worry about losing the home if there’s a recession,” says Hardesty. “To have an actual home of our own goes beyond words.”

Hardesty, a California native who enlisted when he was 19, served as a Cavalry Scout and was deployed in March 2010 to the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan where he did reconnaissance. While on patrol, he sustained his injuries when an IED blew up the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) in which he was traveling.

The decorated veteran, who received the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Metal and the NATO Medal, learned of the Homes 4 Wounded Heroes program through a soldier who had served in his platoon.

“I had no idea about (the program) until I called my buddy to see how he bought a house,” added Hardesty. “He informed me that he got one for free, so I looked into it. I couldn’t believe it was real. This is a great organization, and it works very hard to find homes for wounded servicemen and women.”

Over the last six years, the Military Warriors Support Foundation has awarded nearly 800 mortgage-free homes to combat-wounded veterans and Gold Star spouses of heroes who have fallen in combat. In addition to the home, each family receives three years of family and financial mentoring so that they may learn the skills necessary to become successful homeowners.

The Colorado PGA also recognized Eric Kenealy of Massage Envy and Bob and Millie Longmire for making the home donation possible.

“It is an incredible privilege to serve one of our nation’s combat wounded heroes in this way,” says Ainsworth. “We are proud to support this organization, and thank all our veterans for the sacrifices they have made to uphold our freedom.”

An affiliate program, PGA H.O.P.E. (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere), recently expanded to include the Denver VA H.O.P.E. Chapter. The partnership’s goal is to introduce golf to veterans and wounded warriors as a means of rehabilitation, recreation, and reconnection.

“We have seen such positive results from this program assisting our soldiers and families at Fort Carson that we feel privileged to reach even more of our veterans,” Ainsworth explains. “Golf can truly be a rehabilitation tool and our veterans can be assured were ready and willing to stand beside them as they go through the rehabilitation process.“

Hardesty, an avid outdoorsman, looks forward to living in the Centennial State.

“I love to hike, I love to mountain bike, I love to fish; I’ve never hunted, but I intend to give it a try,” he says. “I also have a sand rail and a motorcycle. I think I’ll take up golf, too.”